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Apple implements 'Answers from the Community' in the Apple Store

In an apparent effort to bring customers into its Community discussion forums for support, Apple has extended its forums to the product pages on its Web site.

Topher Kessler MacFixIt Editor
Topher, an avid Mac user for the past 15 years, has been a contributing author to MacFixIt since the spring of 2008. One of his passions is troubleshooting Mac problems and making the best use of Macs and Apple hardware at home and in the workplace.
Topher Kessler
2 min read

Ever since Apple introduced its support forums, they've always been a great option for people to get support on the various products that Apple sells. The forums are a peer-based support system where Mac users can discuss and troubleshoot problems. Apple users do not have to rely solely on AppleCare or Apple Store representatives to fix problems or learn how to use their Macs.

The Apple forums have long been a separate section of the Apple Support site, but Apple has implemented new options for the support forums. Support forums have been rebranded as "Communities," which are centralized by product.

Apple Store with Communities link
The link to the communities is placed below the product lineup. Screenshot by Topher Kessler/CNET

Apple has also added the ability to participate in the community discussions from the product pages in the Apple Store.  If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see a community section that contains recent or common questions that people ask in the support communities. It will also offer you options to search questions, answer those listed, or search for similar questions by clicking a link. In addition, you can browse through questions by category and sort them by various criteria.

This change appears to be an effort to bring the Apple Communities and the rest of the Apple Web site together, with a question and answer option that users can quickly access.

This option is one of several that are available to Mac users for getting help with their systems. Another one that we offer here is the Question and Answers feature at MacFixIt. You can use the submissions box to the left of MacFixIt articles or the e-mail links at the bottom of each article to submit questions you have about Mac systems, some of which we publish in our weekly MacFixIt Answers column.

Apple Community Answers page
When you click the link, this page will show where you can search for questions and answers. Screenshot by Topher Kessler


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